I read the first four chapters of Trump's New Book, "How to think like a billionaire" while waiting at the mall for my Williams Sonoma gift to be wrapped. I will it admit, it was a great rollicking read. He is an egotistical maniac, but once you've gotten past that, he's pretty darn funny.
The most disturbing comment I read in his book, however, was this: "Give up sleep and just work your entire life. You love to work anyway, because if you didn't, you'd get another job." Now, I'm paraphrasing, but there is some truth in this. First, if your job sucks, do something else. You spend to much time at work to do something that you find disagreeable. If your boss hasn't fired you, you might want to just jump ship. Better things may be out there for you.
But the other angle of his statement, that we should work all the time bothers me. We should relax, too. I'm beginning to discover that the people that are truly wealthy are those that have time to commit to the activities of their choosing. Maybe for some that's work. For me, I'd prefer to write, read, work with people, teach, travel, and design. Many of those things are work related, but the term work is so distasteful. If he just said, "give up sleep and live your entire life" I might be more open to the idea.
What do you think? What is the business/personal life compromise?
Oh, so I'm sleeping five hours a night for the next week, just to see if I'm more productive. So far I am, but it's only day one!
3 comments:
Nathan you are right. Trump is a maniac. This guy has made his fortune by living off of debt.
This business/personal life thing...varies upon the individual. There are people who are workaholics, who often times just keep working to give the "impression" that they are hard workers. Then there are others who are legitimately busy with work tasks all the time. Those people are easy to deal with.
The folks I can't handle are the "screw everyone else I'm working as hard as I can and if you don't agree I'll see you in my rearviewmirror".
I also don't deal well with the people who have "work" personalities, and "outside of work" personalities. Come on, we're all individuals here. Just act like yourself. You'll torcher yourself otherwise.
In conclusion...look deep down into your own values. Respect that everyone is different. And encourage others to be proactive in fulfilling their values. If working hard, gaining wealth, respect, etc. is your bag...go for it with everything you've got.
So you are sleeping five hours a night, that's great, but what's the norm? Is this more or less than the norm in your effort to be more productive. If it is less than usual, the lack of sleep will eventually catch up with you, and you'll find yourself arriving to school in the middle of sixth period some day.
I agree, you have to have a balance between work and life. And you need to be able to leave work at work, and enjoy your time at home, with family and friends. The work will still be there in the morning.
And if work isn't working out so well, and you need a change. Jump ship, by all means, the grass is always greener, right?? You won't know if you keep sailing the same route.
PS. I would also like to add for Joe, that torcher is usually spelled torture.
Well I partly agree but there needs to be a caveat attached to that. You should only work at a job you enjoy. Now there is no job you will love all the time, but a majority of the time you should look forward to work. With that said then if you find that job personally rewarding, challenging, and exciting, then why would you not want to go to work 6 days a week (standard Cisco work week).
On the other hand, Nate I will agree with you. Everyone needs to take a break and step back from their job and take a break. But hopefully you can find that medium so that you can spend time with family and friends but still enjoy work.
By the time we retire I am sure we will figure out that balance.
Post a Comment